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Car Seat Wiki
Welcome to the Car Seat Wiki This Wiki is designed to help people find the best car seat, or combination of car seats, for their vehicles. The main focus is vehicle fit, but other topics may be added later. Introduction to the "Big Family, Small Car" Dilemma Welcome to the Car Seat Wiki! The purpose of this Wiki is to address "difficult fit" issues with car seats and vehicles. This Wiki is moderated by Child Passenger Safety Technicians. Some of the most common problems we run into have to do with matching a car seat (or multiple car seats) with a particular vehicle. Perhaps your vehicle doesn't seem to have enough space for a rear-facing child seat without having the driver eat the steering wheel. Maybe you have an unusually shaped back seat which makes it difficult to get a child seat in tightly. Or you may be looking at the 8 inches you have between the two car seats in your back seat and wondering where you're going to squeeze the baby you are due to deliver next week. You came to the right place. We will attempt to provide multiple options for each difficult situation, in the hopes that something will fit your budget. You should be warned, however, that sometimes the best fitting car seat for your situation might not be cheap. New car seats, even if they cost $250 each or $300 or (gasp) $500 are almost always cheaper than a new car, however. Fortunately, there are a few car seats in the under-$100 range which will work in most tight-fit situations. In some cases we may not have any solutions that don't involve at least one rather expensive niche-market car seat, but we'll try. We strive to always recommend seats that will fit your car and still allow for the "best practice" of keeping a child rear-facing to a minimum of age two and in a 5-point harness until at least 40 lbs. and 4 years old (preferably 5 or 6). For more information about what type of seat your child should be riding in, visit NHTSA.gov. It is going to take us a while to complete this Wiki - if a project like this can ever be truly completed. In the meantime, here are a few car seats you may not have even heard of before which are worth investigating for those hard-to-fit situations: Safety 1st Guide 65 ($79, Walmart) . Also marketed in different trim packages as the S1 Easy Fit at Babies R Us or the Eddie Bauer XRS 65 at Target . An economical car seat that can be installed fairly upright for toddlers (making it fit in most cars front-to-back) and narrow enough to fit three-across an average sedan. Combi Coccoro . A tiny little convertible seat that will typically fit where nothing else can. Designed specifically for sub-compact cars. Super lightweight, can be used with certain strollers like an infant seat, and a common choice for city-dwellers who take taxis a lot. Fits rear-facing infants and toddlers 3-33 lbs, forward-facing 20-40 lbs. Diono Radian . A super tall yet super narrow line of car seats which will fit an average child up to about age four rear-facing, and about age six or seven forward-facing. Not always the best for back seats with little leg room, but a miracle for 3-across situations. It is only about 14" across in the seating area, and 17" across in the shoulder area. Chico Keyfit 30 is a fairly trim infant seat which will often fit well in tighter spaces. The car seat accommodates babies from 4 to 30 pounds. Its Center-Pull Latch adjustment allows installation from either side of your small vehicle. This is particularly useful for extremely small 2 door cars with very limited space. Latest activity Category:Browse